


In a Little Town

by Paint_It_Yellow



Series: Life Goes On (Post GX Canon) [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Gen, Light Angst, Nonbinary Character, Other, Post-Canon, i think maybe i'll put it there just in case, judai gets bullied by six year olds, mentions of johan hayato and manjoume, they/them pronouns for yubel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 06:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18068009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paint_It_Yellow/pseuds/Paint_It_Yellow
Summary: Judai left Duel Academia with only a faint imprinting of a plan for the future, but waking up in a little town leads him to find what was maybe his true calling all along.





	In a Little Town

At the time, leaving had seemed the best option; turning over a new leaf, as they say. Yubel hadn’t really contested it, neither had Daitokuji and Pharaoh didn’t really have a choice in the matter considering he was and always will be- hopefully- a cat and nothing more. Even Judai’s friends seemed to have guessed that it would happen if their predetermined note was anything to go by. Needless to say, it was a very in-character thing for him to do.

“Are you sure?” they’d asked as he packed up- not that there really was much to pack.

Judai paused and glanced at them, then at Daitokuji, then stared down at his bag and around the room, nostalgia pulling his lips into a smile.

“Yeah,” he stood, pulling the belt of his bag tight before flinging it over his shoulder.. “I think I am.”

“And you have everything?”

“Not much for me to take.”

And hours later, Judai was off. Off for a new future, leaving all that he’d known for the past three years behind him, or so was the plan. Less of a plan Yubel would have said than it was an excuse, but it was what was needed at the time and they weren’t about to say otherwise.

The point at which Judai had chosen to turn his future into the present was odd- it looked like a desert that went on for miles, though life was close by and green came back to the landscape as buildings increased.

“Why here?” they’d asked but Judai shrugged.

“Why not?”

And well, you can’t very well argue with such sound logic, can you? So Yubel didn’t, just shook their head with a light, fond sigh and followed their love into the small town just barely scraping off of being a village.

The afternoon they arrived was no bother. It was warmer than it had any right to be and Judai had enough money on him to buy food, though he had packed some before leaving so he didn’t buy anything that first day.

Nightfall, however, proved to be a much larger problem.

“Judai?” Daitokuji spoke, glancing up at the sky, seemingly worried.

Judai looked over at him, as innocent to the situation as Yubel was.

“Should you not find somewhere to stay the night?”

Ah. Right. Yubel cursed at themself for the oversight- it was both incredibly easy and incredibly hard to remember that Judai was human while they were not. Sure, of course, they had both once been, but now neither were.

The cold fried shrimp that had been a part of Judai’s dinner fell from his mouth as he realised with wide eyes that he hadn’t a place to stay and, despite a grand attempt to save it from hitting the ground, it was soon lost to the apex predator known as Pharaoh. It seemed, in that moment, that the man that Yubel loved more than all else was in more despair over the loss of his cold snack than of not having a place to stay. Yubel wasn’t sure whether they wanted to facepalm or hug him and so decided on neither.

“I’ll just stay here,” Judai replied after he had accepted his fried shrimp was gone, never to return, patting the bench he was sitting on.

“You’ll catch a cold,” Yubel offered as if a reason was needed other than ‘it’s dangerous and not socially acceptable to sleep on a park bench’.

“I won’t! It’s summer.”

“It still gets cold in the summer, Judai.”

“Idiots don’t catch colds.”

Yubel’s brow raised. “You’re not an idiot and you’ve had colds many times.”

“So you admit I’m not an idiot?” Judai grinned as though he’d won but only received a disapproving frown.

“Judai.”

Said man sunk back into the hard bench with a groan at the mere tone of how his name was spoken.

“I don’t think a town like this would have anywhere I could stay on such short notice,” he finally said after finishing his groaning phase.

“And I think you could find one if you looked.”

“I’ll look tomorrow!”

Yubel and Daitokuji shared a look of their own, though Daitokuji had a soft, relenting smile that told Yubel that they, this time, had lost.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I’m sure you will,” Judai grumbled, though Yubel could feel the gratitude over them dropping the matter just for the night through their bond.

“Also, put on another layer if you’re going to be sleeping out. And go to that bench over there, it’s more sheltered.”

“What are you, my mum?” Judai teased, barking a laugh out as Yubel’s incorporeal hand went through his head. “Going, I’m going.”

And go he did, as he soon found himself swaddled in three jackets, using his bag as a pillow with Pharaoh lying on his legs as he dozed off to sleep in no time at all, as though it were just another night in the dorm bunk that he was never to return to.

His sleep was, surprisingly, rattled not by his two ghostly caretakers, but a horde of kids and a hissing Pharaoh.

“Look! There’s a bum over there, on the bench!”

Judai barely registered the voice or the source before he was prodded with a stick somewhat haphazardly, causing him to have to bolt up as so that Pharaoh wouldn’t maim what he only moments later recognised to be a young child.

“Mm, wha?” Judai mumbled intelligently, rubbing his eyes with his free forearm.

The kid seemed surprised at the fact that Judai responded in any sort of fashion, glancing back at his gang of friends and muttering something before turning back and poking him again with the same stick he had earlier. Judai just sat, vaguely amused in his half-awake state.

“We should kill him,” Yubel muttered drily.

“We don’t kill kids,” Judai mumbled.

“We could.”

“Not this time.”

The kids stared as Judai talked to himself before bursting into laughter, earning a confused look.

“He talks to himself!”

“Must’ve been kicked out ‘cause he was insane or something.”

The third kid stayed quiet, glancing at where Yubel was furiously glaring at them before whipping his head away, though not before it caught Yubel’s attention, though they didn’t say anything.

Opting to completely ignore the kids, the bum himself finally let go of Pharaoh, shrugging off two of the three jackets he wore even as the kids’ attention was drawn back to him.

“Ew, what’s he doing now?” One said, and honestly Judai thought it was pretty obvious as he shoved two of his jackets into his makeshift pillow and stood up.

“H-hey! Where d’ya think you’re going?” The kid with the stick, now dubbed ‘Stick Boy’ by Judai, yelled, stepping back as Judai stood to his full height. Now, Judai wasn’t tall by any means, but when you’re a kid everyone’s pretty big when compared to you, and intimidating to boot.

“Oh, y’know,” Judai said with a wave of his hand. “Somewhere.”

Stick Boy scowled. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Oh?”

Yubel watched, rather displeased. “Judai, stop entertaining them and just get going.”

Completely ignoring them, Judai stretched his arms and then glanced down at the group. “Ah, it’s good to be young.”

The kids faltered further if only for the fact that Judai was so unconventionally unbothered by them.

“Hey,” one said to Stick Boy, tugging on his sleeve, “I think we should go.”

“Hah? What are you, a coward? This bum’s trying to invade our territory!” An interesting way of seeing him sleeping on a bench, but sure. “My mum said that people who sleep in benches destroy towns like ours! Useless members of society!”

“He’s a bit creepy though,” the third kid, the one who had glanced at Yubel earlier, said in effort to back up the second kid. Judai just stuffed his hands in his pockets- he probably shouldn’t stick around but it was sort of amusing.

“He’s just some guy sleeping on a bench.”

“He’s got something there though,” the kid continued, pointing at where Yubel was floating, arms crossed. “A demon or something!”

“Demons don’t exist!” Stick Boy sneered. “Don’t tell me you’re actually sympathising with that guy!”

“I’m not! There’s really something there!”

“You’re just as bad as the bum.” The second kid shook his head with a sigh. “This is why we don’t let kids hang about with us.”

“You’re only a year older than me!”

“Baby,” the second kid muttered.

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

It went on for a bit longer before Stick Boy interrupted.

“You’re both babies if you’re acting like that, come on.” And he started to walk away, casting what Judai was sure was meant to be a devastating glare back at him but it’s hard to be intimidated by a kid about the height of your waist and so little hair he was bordering on bald.

The third kid stayed behind, clutching at his trousers and staring after them, looking like he was about to cry. If the two noticed he wasn’t following, they didn’t seem to care.

“You not going with them?” Judai asked, startling kid three as his presence was once again relevant.

The kid shook his head and the two stood in a bubble of awkward silence for what felt like forever.

“Well,” Judai began, turning on his heel dramatically. “It’s been fun, but I guess I should go.”

As his foot hit the ground and he went to take another step, he felt a tug on his coat.

“I wasn’t lying, you know,” the kid said.

Judai turned his head but didn’t say anything, silently prompting the kid to keep talking.

“You really do have a demon following you. I think- does that mean you’ve done something bad?”

Judai cringed inwardly but only offered a casual smile to the kid and a shrug as he crouched down to the kid’s level. “Dunno. Tell me, what does the demon look like?”

“It’s, uh, big? Even bigger than you! And had long hair and a fried egg right here.” The kid slapped his forehead as his hands frantically moved about. “And wings! And, uh…”

“A fried egg!” Yubel seemed offended at the idea as they glowered at the kid, but Judai only snorted. The kid flinched.

“Its eyes are two different colours!”

“Oh? Like this?” And Judai invoked Yubel’s powers for a moment so short if you blinked you’d miss it. The kid didn’t blink though and only screamed.

“Judai how stupid are you?” They asked, disapproving.

“On a scale of one to ten? Maybe like an eight.”

“Well at least you’re self-aware.”

“When I want to be.”

“Oh for-”

“Shh! Don’t swear when there’s a kid around.”

Yubel rolled their eyes but didn’t swear anyway, though they weren’t all too sure the kid could hear them even if he was able to see them.

“Are you- are you a demon?”

“Nope!” Judai popped the ‘p’ for added emphasis.

“Then how-”

“Magic.”

The kid didn’t seem appeased by that answer which was unfortunate considering Judai was beginning to think that if he kept the topic up for too long the kid would end up asking questions way too detailed for his liking.

“Your fault for not walking away when you should’ve.” What, could Yubel read his mind or something?

“Somewhat. You’re mostly just really obvious.”

“Well that’s rude.”

“Hush, it’s one of your charms.”

Well, Judai would take what he could get.

The kid glanced up at him, fiddling now with the hem of his shirt- seemed his hands were doing something more often than not. “Are you talking to it?”

“Hm? Ah, yeah.” Well, that confirmed Yubel’s suspicion then.

“Did you form a contract? I heard you form contracts with demons.”

Judai stood and took a few steps back towards the bench to sit down, offering the place next to him to the kid who took it after a moment of deliberation.

“They’re not a demon.”

“An angel then? Can you form contracts with angels?”

Yubel covered their mouth as they muffled a snort. That was likely to be the first and last time they’d be called an angel by any that could see them. In some ways, kids were amazing. Judai glanced at Yubel, not even trying to conceal a grin.

“I suppose they’re sort of like a guardian angel to me,” Judai lamented and Yubel, despite their lack of physicality, slapped Judai through the head. He couldn’t feel it, of course, and only caused him to snort. The kid watched, confused.

“Did you form a contract though?”

“We didn’t form a contract, but we made a promise to each other to always stay by each other’s sides,” he smiled softly as he spoke, glancing at Yubel who would very much rather be huddled in a corner screaming.

The kid seemed to have gotten what was meant and gasped, hands covering his mouth as he glanced between the ‘angel’ and human before whispering, “So you’re together? Like, together together?”

Having it put like that made Judai pause. “Well…” he began, but wasn’t sure what to say. They hadn’t really hashed out what was meant- everything happened so fast in the last half a year since they’d reconnected, they just hadn’t had the time.

“Well,” he began again with a scratch of his head and a shaky grin, face heating slightly, “I suppose we are.”

“Woah!” the kid breathed out in marvel, looking like he was about to say something else.

“Ah, but Yubel isn’t an angel,” Judai cut in.

“Yubel,” the kid spoke slowly, staring at said spirit with calculating eyes before shrugging it off and turning back. “You said they were a guardian angel though.”

“Symbolically. They try and stop me from getting in too much trouble.”

“With a limited success rate,” Yubel muttered.

“Not a demon, not an angel- a god?” The kid’s eyes widened as the words fell from his mouth and Yubel was torn between groaning and doubling over in laughter at the notion.

“Stop him, he’s getting out of control,” Yubel ended up pleading. “Next thing you know I’ll be the universe itself.”

“They’re, well- kid, you play duel monsters?”

“No? My brother does though. He won’t let me near them, says I’ll mess them up.” The kid seemed even more lost, not completely sure what a card game had to do with much of anything.

“They’re the spirit of a duel monster card.” To put it simply, anyway.

“Like a ghost?”

Judai shrugged. “Somewhat. Have you been seeing them for long?”

“A-about a year, I think…”

That hit home a bit. The kid couldn’t be any older than five, which seemed to be pushing it even then- Judai had started to gain his abilities around the same time the kid seemed to be saying.

“I told my brother but he didn’t believe me. He thinks I’m just looking for attention. Everyone does.”

“‘It’ll go away with time’, right?” Judai quoted something his dad had said long ago, back when they were still somewhat together as a family.

The kid nodded.

“Is there something wrong with me?” the kid asked quietly, staring at the ground in front of him.

“What’s your name?” Judai asked suddenly, looking at the lost kid beside him.

“Kazuma.”

“Well, Kazuma, I can safely say nothing’s wrong with you.”

“But I see things that don’t exist.”

“They do exist. Duel Spirits are very much real, but you have to be very special to see them. Most don’t.”

“Will I go back to normal when I’m older?”

Judai wasn’t sure what normal was at this stage in his life, so a definite answer was impossible to give.

“You already are normal.” He opted to say, a sort of answer but not really.

“You just said that most can’t see what I do though.”

“Create your own definition of normal. I can see them, hear them even. A lot of people I know also can.”

“Could you when you were my age?”

Judai nodded with a hum. “At first, I could only hear them, then I started to be able to see them as well.”

“So I might end up hearing them too?” Kazuma seemed almost terrified at the notion.

“Maybe, maybe not. One of my friends can only hear Duel Spirits- the opposite of you- and it seems it’s always been that way and always will be. Do you not want to see them?”

The kid shook his head hesitantly but shook it even so. Judai couldn’t say he fully understood the feeling, but he did somewhat.

“Can you take my ability away?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh.”

Downtrodden, Kazuma just sat and stared like someone had told him his mother had been put in hospital and he couldn’t quite process it. Judai wasn’t quite sure what to say- it gets better with time? He didn’t know that.

“You’re not alone,” he ended up saying under his breath and Kazuma looked at him oddly.

“I- You don’t want to be alone, right?” Brown eyes stared at his own but the bearer of them didn’t move a muscle. “I get that. It can be hard to balance people without the ability to see Duel Spirits when you see them wherever you go.”

Yubel, still watching, wasn’t quite sure where Judai was going with this.

“You’re not the only one who feels lost in this case, I don’t think. There’s got to be other kids out there that feel the same, that have the same problem. It’s a bit pointless to wish you didn’t have the ability to see them now, only to deal with it as it comes.”

Yubel noticed now that Judai was as lost as them, combing his mind for anything positive he could give.

“Internet’s becoming more common now, right?” He asked and the kid nodded. “You’ll probably find lots of folks on there talking about it. Maybe in a few years it’ll be commonplace and you’ll wonder what you worried about in the first place.”

“I thought I was alone too, when I was a kid.” In two different ways, he supposed, but that was unimportant. “But then I went to school and I met people just like me- like Manjoume and Hayato and Johan,” he rattled their names as though they meant something to the kid though he knew they didn’t, “and suddenly it was like I was surrounded by people like me.”

“What if I don’t find those people? People like me?” Kazuma asked.

“You will,” Judai stated as though he knew. “Life finds a way to drag people of a kind together. Fate can be as kind as it is cruel.”

The kid didn’t look too sure at first. “Okay,” he muttered, then, much more resolutely, he stared up at Judai and spoke again, “Okay.”

Judai smiled, feeling as though he’d saved the world when all he’d done was lift the spirits of a young boy. Said young boy returned the smile with a grin of his own before he hopped off the bench with much more energy than he seemed to have had earlier.

“You promise?”

“I do.” He wasn’t sure he could promise something he had no control over, but he did so anyway.

“I’ll hold you to your words, uh…” Kazuma faltered.

“Judai.”

“I’ll hold you to your words, Judai!”

“You do that.”

The young spirit seer turned and ran for a short moment as Judai stood, glancing at the sky before he halted and turned back.

“Will I see you around? Can I talk to you again?” he called over and Judai hesitated and glanced at Yubel then at Pharaoh.

“I’m a traveller,” he replied, trying not to notice the flicker of disappointment in the kid’s expression. “But,” he began, “I’ll come back one day; I’ll talk to you then, if you remember.”

“I’ll remember! You just don’t forget! Next time I see you I’ll have a hundred friends!” And he ran off before Judai could respond with anything other than a raised hand and a warm feeling in his chest.

Snapping out of it, he caught Yubel’s suspecting look.

“What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Judai frowned and Yubel smiled. “Let’s get going, maybe the next town over will have an inn.”

“Hopefully. Then I won’t get woken up with a stick.”

His situation was different from most, Judai knew, but even as he left the small town, he thought of the child. The child so young and innocent yet with such worries that hit close to him even then. Especially then, even.

“I think,” Judai spoke into the silence, Yubel turning head to watch him as he spoke. “I’d like to give back to the world. Help people.” Help people like him so they didn’t have to go through what he did. So they didn’t hurt and wouldn’t get hurt.

Yubel couldn’t help but smile, harkening back to similar words spoken by a young boy from long ago with all the dreams and ambitions of the world.

“I think,” Yubel replied, staring at the sky then turning gaze to their beloved, hands clasped behind their back and voice warm, a grin unlike any they’d grinned in a long while. “That sounds wonderful.”

And they’d do it together. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I don't know what's up with the title either but they're in a little town so y'know, it's not like it isn't accurate. It was originally called 'Hopeless Wanderer' since the idea of the fic came from me listening to Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons repeatedly but the end product was so different from what I imagined I decided to save it for later so expect a fic with that name at some point if I remember. There's a lot less Daitokuji, and a lot more Soulshipping than originally planned but we'll see more of that good ol' ghost at some point. 
> 
> This took a bit to write and I'm unused to writing in more than one sitting but I think this turned out alright, so I hope it was enjoyed by everyone in at least some regard. 
> 
> Off-topic and completely not relevant to anything GX but I just finished reading The Graveyard Book the day I'm posting this and I'm still not over it. Would 100% recommend to anyone looking for a new book to read. 
> 
> Find me on Tumblr at [future-circuit!](http://future-circuit.tumblr.com/)


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